A Few Pro-Labor Bills Fail In Session; Most Continue

Tipped minimum wage bill died in committee, as did paid sick leave expansion

HARTFORD — Three bills unpopular with businesses failed to come up for a labor committeevote before the General Assembly's deadline and are probably dead for the year.

All three were introduced for the first time in 2015, and all three were part of a "Women's Economic Agenda" advanced by advocates earlier in the month.

•Tipped minimum wage: The bill proposed paying the same minimum wage to all workers. Now, most workers must be paid at least $9.15 hourly, but waitresses and waiters can receive a cash wage of $5.78. Bartenders can receive a cash wage of $7.46. If they receive so few tips they do not reach $9.15, the employer must pay the difference.

•Expansion of paid sick leave: Paid sick leave now applies only to hourly service workers (YMCA workers are exempted) and companies with at least 50 employees. Workers can take up to five sick days a year. The bill that failed would have expanded the coverage to factories, businesses with at least 10 employees, and would have provided seven sick days a year.

•Fair schedules: The proposed bill would have required employers to give workers advance notice of their schedules and to pay penalties to workers if their schedules were changed at the last minute.

Bills that made it out of the committee in a marathon voting day March 12 can still fail to become law if they require a favorable vote from another committee, or if leadership doesn't bring them to the floor.

One bill that came out of the labor committee in both 2014 and 2015 would require local restaurants and stores that are part of national chains to pay a penalty of $1 an hour for low-wage workers. In 2014, the standard was below 130 percent of the minimum wage; this year's bill specifies $15 an hour.

No opponents spoke at that bill's public hearing, but the Connecticut Business and Industry Association is lobbying against it, arguing that many low-wage workers are not in households that receive food stamps or other public benefits, and even those who are would see no benefit from the bill.

The Service Employees International Union, which supported that bill, also got favorable votes on two other bills designed to increase the number of full-time jobs in two categories where the union represents workers: office janitors and personal-care aides paid by Medicaid.

Most of the 6,000 to 7,000 aides are restricted from working 26 hours a week or more, because if they work at least 26 hours weekly for one client, that client is responsible for paying workers' compensation coverage. The bill proposes the state pay the cost of workers' compensation insurance.

The janitorial bill would require companies that employ janitors (other than weekend-only janitors) to offer them at least 30 hours a week.

A bill to create paid maternity leave and family and medical leave for Connecticut, also part of the Women's Economic Agenda, also made it out of committee. All employees would be required to contribute to the fund, and anyone with a serious illness, caring for an immediate family member with a serious illness, or after the birth of a child could take up to 12 weeks off at full pay.

Employers would not contribute to the disability fund. In Rhode Island, where a similar system exists, though at partial pay, the weekly payroll deduction for someone earning $1,000 a week is $12.